[BETA] IFP Suite for Gmax+VC

AK-73

This mod is a combination of a maxscript, an exe working in the background and a command line tool, all set-up to work together so that any Gmax user can from now on add, replace, delete, etc animations diretcly to an .ifp file from within Gmax without *any* extra work required.

The maxscript (which has been based on Kam's IFP IO script) writes all relevant data from Gmax to the Gmax listener window, the GTAMax tool (perhaps known to some readers from Kam's distributions) reads out the data and passes it all to the command line tool which handles the actual work of modifying .ifp files accordingly.

Relatedly, I have also recently released mod for VC that is called GTA:Martial Arts which allows as a side-benefit to fire any animation that is properly configured through it from the main.scm script at about any time. In conjunction with this distribution this should expand Vice City modding capabilities significantly. GTA:Martial Arts has been used for example in the production of that last PEDS episode of season 2 (Endgame).

I should add that this mod ist still in BETA status, so backup regularly.

Let me stress first: yes, it is for Vice City *only*. And no I don't plan to bring this to other games, as I am a VC modder. The mod is open source though. Theoretically it should also work for 3D Studio Max but I don't know for sure.

Anway, since my release of GTA:MA and its basic capability to fire any animation at about any time from script, the release of this was necessary. WIth this suite and GTA:MA it's, for example, relaively easy to create and introduce new walking styles into VC (or to convert them from SA): you create a custom .ifp with this suite, set the GTA:MA config up so that the game knows the new walking style and its animations and then you can use it in the default.ide to assign it to various peds.

Check it out, there's probably some things more about it that need to be said, I just wanted it to be released now because I had been asked about how I did create my own custom .ifps. Hope the stuff works relatively bug-free for you.

Anyway, I had always envisioned to do such a kind of thing for all kinds of files and data that has been used within gmax. But I am been lacking command line tools to manipulate .txd or .img files and since Kam dropped out of the game, I never pursued this one any further. If somebody can provide me the aforementioned command line tools, I'd be interested in turning the IFP suite into a comprehensive suite for developing mods for Vice City.

Ben

This looks like it'd be quite useful. Too bad I won't really have the time to try it out (at least not before the end of the year, anyway) .

As this is still in the development stage, I do have one question - have you considered adding support for ANM files at all (even just so far as a crude conversion to IFP)? I know ANMs are only used in GTA3, but if they could be converted to IFP, they could be used in VC. This could have various applications, especially for people creating TCs, who may want to use GTA3 characters/animations.

If you're questioning how selfish my motivations are ( ), you needn't worry - MM was looking at manipulating the EXE in LC so that we could use the ANMs directly. Still, having a program capable of editing them (or, as I said, at least converting them to IFP) would be quite useful, especially seeing that ANMs are basically the only format which we can't edit directly.

AK-73

This looks like it'd be quite useful. Too bad I won't really have the time to try it out (at least not before the end of the year, anyway) .

As this is still in the development stage, I do have one question - have you considered adding support for ANM files at all (even just so far as a crude conversion to IFP)? I know ANMs are only used in GTA3, but if they could be converted to IFP, they could be used in VC. This could have various applications, especially for people creating TCs, who may want to use GTA3 characters/animations.

If you're questioning how selfish my motivations are ( ), you needn't worry - MM was looking at manipulating the EXE in LC so that we could use the ANMs directly. Still, having a program capable of editing them (or, as I said, at least converting them to IFP) would be quite useful, especially seeing that ANMs are basically the only format which we can't edit directly.

Hi, Ben!

Sorry but that's not in my plans in any foreseeable future as of now. Right now I am thinking of bringing out an update for GTA:FPS pretty soon, then a small update for VC:Traffic (which is something you might be interested in) and after that it's going to be another GTA:Martial Arts update.

Plus I got plenty of ideas for other stuff already. Doesn't look to good for additional requests, I must admit.